2. Achieved Sample and Respondent Profile
2.1 Total survey responses
Total survey responses for Scotland (including the national survey response rate) is shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Achieved sample and response rate
| A | Number of customer email addresses supplied by local authorities to Pye Tait Consulting This number includes repeat email addresses, i.e. where the same customer's details were supplied by more than one local authority. |
16,970 |
|---|---|---|
| B | Of these - number of unique customers invited to participate in the survey: This number follows a de-duplication of repeat email addresses where supplied by more than one local authority. |
13,762 |
| C | Total survey responses for Scotland: Customers attributed their survey responses to a particular local authority and were invited to complete the survey more than once if they wished to provide feedback about more than one local authority. |
2,323 |
| D | Response rate for Scotland (C as a percentage of B): | 16.9%[12] |
A breakdown of the achieved sample and response rates by local authority is provided in Table 3.
NB: The response rate for Scotland is not directly comparable with individual local authority response rates. The response rate for Scotland is based on total unique customers on a national level (i.e. following a de-duplication exercise) whereas the response rate for each local authority is based on total email addresses supplied by that local authority.
Table 3 Achieved sample and response rate by local authority
| Local authority | A: Total email addresses supplied by local authorities to Pye Tait | B: Total email addresses that were unique to each local authority | C: Actual survey responses attributed to each local authority (self-selected by the customer) | D: Response rate: Actual responses attributed to each local authority (C) as a % of total email addresses supplied by that local authority (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen City | 84 | 43 | 29 | 34.5% |
| Aberdeenshire | 1247 | 1096 | 198 | 15.9% |
| Angus | 320 | 213 | 49 | 15.3% |
| Argyll and Bute | 712 | 550 | 107 | 15.0% |
| City of Edinburgh | 2157 | 1624 | 354 | 16.4% |
| Clackmannanshire | 201 | 113 | 19 | 9.5% |
| Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar | 143 | 130 | 25 | 17.5% |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 266 | 202 | 60 | 22.6% |
| Dundee City | 333 | 226 | 35 | 10.5% |
| East Ayrshire | 531 | 353 | 53 | 10.0% |
| East Dunbartonshire | 603 | 397 | 63 | 10.4% |
| East Lothian | 249 | 405 | 28 | 11.2% |
| East Renfrewshire | 198 | 68 | 21 | 10.6% |
| Falkirk | 212 | 96 | 26 | 12.3% |
| Fife | 863 | 624 | 128 | 14.8% |
| Glasgow City | 1290 | 747 | 132 | 10.2% |
| Highland | 1209 | 960 | 186 | 15.4% |
| Inverclyde | 151 | 83 | 13 | 8.6% |
| Midlothian | 63 | 29 | 25 | 39.7% |
| Moray | 774 | 596 | 108 | 14.0% |
| North Ayrshire | 528 | 327 | 40 | 7.6% |
| North Lanarkshire | 1167 | 951 | 118 | 10.1% |
| Orkney | 159 | 151 | 40 | 25.2% |
| Perth and Kinross | 745 | 540 | 104 | 14.0% |
| Renfrewshire | 266 | 111 | 39 | 14.7% |
| Scottish Borders | 216 | 144 | 47 | 21.8% |
| Shetland | 138 | 129 | 33 | 23.9% |
| South Ayrshire | 354 | 218 | 41 | 11.6% |
| South Lanarkshire | 834 | 529 | 82 | 9.8% |
| Stirling | 230 | 109 | 33 | 14.3% |
| West Dunbartonshire | 147 | 114 | 26 | 17.7% |
| West Lothian | 580 | 366 | 61 | 10.5% |
| Customers of multiple local authorities | Included within above | 1518 | N/A | N/A |
| Total | 16970 | 13762 | 2323 | 16.9%* |
*The total Scotland response rate is determined by calculating column C as a percentage of B.
2.2 Respondent profile
The majority of customers responding to the survey (64%) were direct applicants for building warrants and/or submitters of completion certificates[13] in the 2017/18 financial year (the period in scope of the survey). Less than half (35%) were agents acting on behalf of applicants, while the remaining 2% fell outside of these categories (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Customer type[14]
Among direct applicants, more than half (53%) confirmed that they used an agent to act on their behalf as part of the application process (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Use of an agent (direct applicants/submitters only)
All customers were asked to state the category (or categories) of work for which they had submitted an application. The majority of customers (68%) had submitted applications for domestic work only, 14% submitted applications for non-domestic work only, and 18% submitted applications for both domestic and non-domestic work.
Direct applicants responding to the survey were primarily domestic customers of the building standards system, whereas agents spanned a greater mix of domestic only, commercial only, and combined (domestic and commercial) customers (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Customer type by category of application
A more detailed breakdown of the categories of building work for which surveyed customers had applied, is shown in Figure 4.
Applications relating to 'Domestic existing build' (either alterations or extensions) account for the majority (55%) of responses.
Figure 4 Categories of building work
The most common reason why surveyed customers made contact with their local authority building standards service was to prepare an application for a building warrant (Figure 5).
Figure 5 Reasons for making contact with the building standards service
Contact
Email: sarah.waugh@gov.scot